Stop mandatory driving tests for Illinois' seniors

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Health and overall ability, not age, are what determine when older drivers are safe to be on the road.

Illinois, though, acts as though age itself is a hazard. The state has the strictest requirements for road exams of any state. Drivers 79 or 80 have to take a driving test if their license has expired. From age 81 to 86 they have to take a road test every two years. After age 87, it’s every year.

That wouldn’t be so bad if heading over to a secretary of state driver facility was a dreamy experience. But it’s not. And it’s stressful for seniors to keep worrying they might summarily lose their driver’s licenses — lifelines to so many activities — after the next road test.

The Legislature should find a way to end the mandatory tests, which many seniors regard as discriminatory.

“I don’t think having a birthday is a good enough reason for that to occur,” state Rep. Jeff Keicher, R-Sycamore, who introduced a House bill to eliminate the mandatory road tests, told us.

Many senior citizens in Illinois don’t have immediate family members available to do the driving to such places as doctor’s appointments, churches, grocery stores or drug stores, Keicher said.

Illinois’ rules are less onerous than they were before the requirements for senior drivers were eased in 2022. But they still are unnecessarily rigid.

That’s why Keicher’s bill got 45 co-sponsors and passed out of the Transportation: Vehicles & Safety Committee with just one dissenting vote. But then it was sidetracked last month into the Rules Committee, which generally means it is dead for the session.

State Sen. Don DeWitte, R-St. Charles, however, refiled the bill in the Senate, and hopes it can still pass both houses in this session.

“What got my interest in this issue was the number of callers in my district who asked: 'Why do I have to keep taking these road tests when I have no tickets and no accidents?'” DeWitte said.

Seniors adjust driving habits

Research indicates that seniors as a rule tend to adjust their driving habits to remain safe on the roads. If they don’t see as well at night, they limit themselves to driving in the daytime. If they don’t process information as quickly, they slow down.

As for stories about older drivers who may have accidentally driven through a store window, Keicher points out those are people who passed the mandatory road tests that exist now. Eliminating such tests would not change that.

A report by Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias’ office last September said, “Statistics show that our senior drivers are among the safest drivers in the state,” as Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell reported at the time.

Also, the National Safety Council found in 2021 that drivers 75 and older were involved in 3,263 fatal crashes, fewer than any other age group. In contrast, drivers aged 25 to 34 were involved in 13,200.

Keicher said the biggest danger on the state’s roads is careless and speeding drivers, who sometimes hit emergency responders on roadsides.

Moreover, 34% of trucking companies in the Illinois Trucking Association use drivers at some point who are 75 or older, Keicher said. To drive those rigs, truckers need a commercial driver’s license. If they are required to take a behind-the-wheel test, they must show up at the testing station with a big rig to show they can drive a semi. That’s asking a lot of someone who may have a safe driving record that stretches back decades.

This is an issue that affects a growing number of people. Nationwide, the number of people 65 or older is expected to top 70 million, and about 85% to 90% of them will be licensed to drive, according to AAA.

Illinois should find ways to treat its senior drivers fairly while focusing more on reining in the dangerous drivers who pose the biggest risk of crashes.

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